The Psalms are our school of prayer. As Calvin has suggested, they are an anatomy of the human soul. There isn’t a feeling that humans have had that is not expressed in one of the psalms, moving from deep despair (see Psalm 88) to total praise and joy (see Psalm 150). This also suggests that all of those feelings are legitimate subjects for your prayers before God. As many have noted, while the psalms are a mixture of lament, thanksgiving, and praise, the laments seem to dominate the first part of the psalms and then praise takes over in the last part, ending with a crescendo of praise in the last six psalms. Here also is a reflection of our souls journey. Until we can arrive at a blunt honesty with God in expressing our hurts, angers, and complaints, even desires for revenge, it is difficult to release ourselves into full joy.
In making use of this school of prayer for our own journey, I would call your attention to the superscriptions attached to some of the psalms. Look, for example, at Psalms 34,35, and 51 for superscriptions that that suggest that as we pray this psalm we can think of particular contexts in David’s life. Add to that the suggestion in the Gospels that Psalm 22 was prayed by Jesus on the cross. While we know that Psalm 22 didn’t originate with Jesus on the cross but was written many years before, still the psalm takes on new depth as we pray it with that context in mind. Like the psalmist did in attaching certain psalms to incidents in David’s life, you can also discover new depth by attaching certain psalms to incidents in Jesus’ life. For example, pray Psalm 77 while thinking what Jesus must have been experiencing and feeling during his time alone in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Now move forward and choose specific contexts in your own life and let them be a setting for your prayer. For example, consider some of your frustrating moments in the ministry and with them in mind, pray psalm 55. You might also take a psalm that seems to speak to your situation, and paraphrase it to make it even more specific.
All of this is to suggest that the psalms can teach you how to pray through your journey of faith.
